Rotary pump or motor



Dec. 18, 1934. R. ENGLISH ROTARY PUMP OR MOTOR Filed Feb. 2, 1933 Patented Dec. 18, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- ICIaim.

This invention relates to rotary motors or pumps.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction of rotary motor or pump that is more particularly adapted for use in accurately metering liquids, such as gasoline or other fuel, and which will be more simple and inexpensive in construction and more satisfactory in use than some of the rotary motors or pumps that have heretofore been used.

It is also an object to providecertain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efficiency and desirability of a rotary motor or pump of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other giseful ends, the invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. 1 is a transverse section of a rotary motor or pump embodying the principles of the invention, being a transverse section on the line 1-1 in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal or axial section of said motor or pump, on line 2-2 in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a housing body 1 provided at its opposite ends with heads 2 and 3 removably held in place by bolts or screws 4 inserted through the plates and into the housing body. Said housing has a main bore 5 of the desired diameter, and alateral enlargement 6 of said bore, the latter struck on the line of a smaller circle than that of the main bore. The enlargement or extension 6 is preferably at the bottom of the housing, for reasons which will hereinafter more fully appear. The housing has an inlet '7 and an outlet 8, as shown.

The cylindrical rotor 9 is made to snugly fit the bore 5, and is provided with radial slots containing the i'adial vanes 10, the inner edges of which latter are provided with bow springs 11 having their middle portions braced or welded to the inner edges of the vanes. The rotor has a shaft 12 by which it is rotated, if it is used as a pump, or which is rotated by the rotor if the device is used as a motor.

Assuming that the rotor is rotated in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 1, it will be seen that liquid, such as water or gasoline, will enter at 7, and will be discharged through the outlet 8, V

by the action of the vanes 10, as the latter sweep down through the enlargement or extension 6 of the main bore of the housing. The springs 11 of the vanes keep their outer edges in tight contact with the inner curved surface of the extension space 6, in a manner that will be readily understood, while the vanes are projected in the manner shown. Also, while the vanes are traversing the main bore 5, their outer edges are kept in tight engagement with the interior of said bore. Preferably, small grooves 13 are provided adjacent the inlet and outlet passages, so that should the rotor stop with the edges of the vanes against the inlet and outlet passages, there will be sumcient leakage to prevent what might be called a dead-center stoppage of the motor or pump.

A stuffing box 14 is preferably provided on the head 3 for the shaft 12, as shown, but it will be seen that axial bearings are not necessary for the rotor, although they may be employed if desired. This is because the rotor 9 snugly fits the bore 5, so that the rotor is self-sustaining, so to speak, in its own chamber, as there is enough of the bore 5 below the plane of the axis of the rotor to support the latter in the housing.

At high speed, it will be seen that gravity contributes to the extension of the vanes into the extension space 6 for each vane is not only pushed down by its spring, but is also caused to move downward by gravity as well as by centrifugal force. In this way the motor or pump may run at high speed and the vanes will remain in contact with the interior surface of the fluid space because each vane is extended into said space by three forces the spring tension, gravity, and centrifugal force. With this construction, and mode of operation, the motor or pump may run at high speed with practically no slippage or lost motion or leakage, with the result that it may be used as a meter, or as a metering pump, with satisfactory results, as it will accurately measure the amount of fluid passing through the device.

It will be seen that the extension 6 is entirely below its axis or center of curvature, and that pressure in its extension space tends to keep the rotor supported in a practically floating condition, as the fluid pressure forces the rotor upward.

It will be seen that the bores '7 and 8 are substantially less than 180 degrees apart on the circumference of the rotor, and that they are even a little less than 180 degrees apart on the circumference of the extension bore 6 of the housing. This means, of course, that the main bore of the housing extends below the horizontal plane of the axis of the rotor, for a substantial distance, between the said bores or openings and the horizontal plane of said axis, whereby the main bore for much over half of its circumference provides an efi'ective support for the rotor. In this way, the rotor is self-sustaining, so to speak, and is not dependent for support on its axial bearings. In fact, any axial connection to the rotor, such as a shaft, could be loose in its bearings, and at the same time the rotor would be snugly confined and held in its own bearing, formed by the main bore of the casing or housing, and lateral displacement of the rotor would be prevented. As shown, the rotor has approximately or substantially 260 degrees bearing on the interior of the housing, for

'there is a substantial bearing for the rotor below the horizontal line of the axis thereof at each side, so that the casing alone provides a bearing which prevents the rotor from being displaced into the extension bore of the housing.

It will be seen that the spring-pressed vanes 10, with the construction shown and described, have four functions, as follows:

First-To draw water into the pump.

Second.-To act as an air-tight barrier between the inlet and outlet passages.

Third.-To propel the water through the discharge passage.

Fourth.To act as a compression ring against the roof of the main bore.

What I claim asiny invention is:

In a rotary fluid pump or motor, the combination with a pump housing having a main cylindrical bore, said housing being provided with a true cylindrical recess having an axis parallel to the axis of the main cylindrical bore forming a fluid passage and communicating with and interrupting the periphery of said main bore, the radius defining said recess being less than that of said bore and the uninterrupted portion of the periphery of said main bore being substantially greater than one hundred and eighty degrees, vanes slidably supported in said rotor for outward radial movement into engagement with the walls defining said main bore and said recess, and fluid ports formed of the same size and disposition in said housing and communicating with said recess adjacent each circumferential end thereof, said ports, recess, and main bore being symmetrical on opposite sides of a plane containing the axis of said main bore and the axis of said recess.

RAYMOND ENGLISH. 

